Center for Community Health Equity

10/30/2025

We were thrilled to be invited by Chicago Scholars to attend the 2025 Onsite College and Leadership Forum at McCormick Place on Tuesday, October 21! It was an incredible day of witnessing hundreds of students connecting with community partner organizations and numerous colleges and universities.

10/25/2025

The DePaul University Pediatric Coping, Health, and Illness Lab (CHILL) is conducting a research study to learn more about the experiences of Black adolescents and young adults with pain in Chicago, especially about how they manage their pain, and pain management resources that they would like to have access to.

They are conducting interviews that can be completed remotely, with each interview lasting between 30 and 45 minutes. After completing the interview, participants will earn a $50 electronic Visa gift card. If you're interested in learning more or would like to participate, please use the links below or reach out to CHILL at 773-236-7646 or susan.tran@depaul.edu.

Link if you or anyone you know is interested: https://depaul.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0VaeVYhztF0qzRk?Q_CHL=qr&fbclid=IwAR0LQ5Y4MrLNyiQelr1ASnBJF4XonSQP-DYgF6P9xdt4vwoteeQ-tEkh9wE

To learn more about our lab and this research study: https://youtu.be/0PNwPfaU_s0?si=DcDoPe5eJTWtQSXW

This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn

10/23/2025

Please join us on November 4th from 6 pm to 7:15 pm for a panel on immigration advocacy in a rapidly changing world. Panelists include DePaul alumni who now work in the immigration space and have expertise in forced migration advocacy. Panelists will also connect with students after the panel and provide career advice.

Please RSVP at the QR code below:

10/16/2025

Please join us on October 23rd and 24th for the Complex Diplomacy in Turbulent Times conference presented by DePaul's Grace School of Applied Diplomacy.

The Grace School of Applied Diplomacy’s sixth annual international conference explores scholarship on how diplomacy can promote new thinking in the context of current complexities such as managing the digital ecosystem, protecting the vulnerable in armed conflict, recovering “soft power” approaches in the face of “hard” and “sharp” power challenges, reconciling the legacies and trends in diplomatic training, weighing the effectiveness of formal (the UN) vs. informal (G20, BRICS+) international organizations, strengthening democratic norms through authentic governmental engagement with home publics about diplomacy, and respecting individual rights and dignity.

Register for this event here:

The Grace School of Applied Diplomacy’s sixth annual international conference explores scholarship on how diplomacy can promote new thinking in the context of current complexities such as managing ...

10/15/2025

The DePaul Migration Collaborative is hosting a screening of the documentary Flight from Guerrero: An Exodus Documentary Screening on October 22nd from 5:30 to 7:30 pm. The film highlights the urgent humanitarian crisis unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border. It will be followed by a Q&A session with organizers and human rights defenders.

Please scan the QR code below to RSVP!

10/10/2025

Join the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, and the Inclusive Economy Lab, for a one-day summit addressing how evictions and homelessness impact families and education in Chicago. The event will feature leading experts, practitioners, and researchers discussing structural drivers of homelessness, the role of schools, eviction court experiences, and innovative approaches, culminating in a keynote conversation with Marcia Fudge, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Register here:

Join UChicago Crown Family School and the Inclusive Economy Lab for a one-day conference on homelessness, education, and family well-being.

10/09/2025

Our summer intern Rachel Shalit helped CCHE complete our health equity review of articles for 2021.

She also completed posters that correlated to some of the health equity review articles from 2021. In the below poster, she focused on the article "Depression, Anxiety, and Alcohol Use Among LGBTQ+ People During COVID-19." Findings from the cross-sectional survey found that individuals in the LGBTQ+ community had higher mental health distress during the pandemic. Check out her poster below to learn more.

10/02/2025

We want to highlight the work of some of our affiliate faculty in their published opinion piece titled: "Health researchers: Flu cases are unnecessarily on the rise. Policy failures are to blame." This opinion piece was published jointly by authors Julia Lippert, Maureen R. Benjamins, Joanna Buscemi and Abigail Silva.

During such a critical time in public health in our country, it is important to highlight what can be done on a local and federal level through policy work to encourage educated and healthy communities.

Check out their piece here: https://archive.is/BxfN7 -1871.0-1879.13

09/25/2025

We want to highlight the work of our Co-Director Dr. Raj Shah in his recent published article titled: "Social determinants of health and risk of dementia among older men and women: A 12-year cohort study in Australia." This article focused on how social determinants of health (SDH) are recognized as contributing factors to cognitive disorders, but their collective influence on dementia risk remains unclear.

The results show that socioeconomic disadvantage was associated with incident dementia. Despite stronger social support, and that women's cognitive capacity appeared to be disproportionately impacted by adverse SDH.

Check out more here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40110677/

09/24/2025

Our newest Voices of Health Equity podcast is now out! During this episode, we interviewed Maureen Benjamins, a Senior Research Fellow at the Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) in Chicago.

Check out the episode here: https://soundcloud.com/cche-329796221/voices-of-health-equity-a-conversation-with-maureen-benjamins

09/18/2025

Please consider attending the event titled "Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need," which is focused on exploring "design justice” — an approach to design led by marginalized communities that aims to challenge, rather than reproduce, structural inequalities. Sasha Costanza-Chock, who is a researcher, designer, and Harvard faculty associate, goes beyond recent calls for good, user-centered design and invites us to build a better world — a world of collective liberation and ecological sustainability.

This event is on October 4th from 11 a.m. to noon. Buy a ticket here:

09/16/2025

September is Suicide Prevention Month and it's important to be educated about resources surrounding mental health and suicide. The National Alliance on Mental Health's theme this month is "Start a Conversation. Be the Difference."

On their website, they talk about the benefits of checking in with people in your life:

"With one conversation, asking someone how they’re really doing — and being ready to truly listen — can save lives. Because here’s what we know: No one has to face this alone. Help exists. Healing is possible. And all it can take is for one person to start a conversation."

NAMI's website has resources, a toolkit, and videos to provide education and resources around suicide and how to support individuals in crisis.

Check it out there:

September is Suicide Prevention Month — a time to raise awareness of this stigmatized topic. We use this month to shift public perception, spread hope and share vital information to people affected by suicide.